New York Choices - Elusive but at least Available

It's hard to read Liz Robbins article about New City eighth graders getting into their schools of interest without a sense of longing for Central Pennsylvania.

(http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/29/nyregion/belated-good-news-on-high-school-admissions-for-some-in-ny.html?src=recg)

Last night I sat with parents who bemoaned how their children are undeserved by the standard offerings of their local schools. A one size fits all mentality is so pervasive parents can only hope for teachers giving their students some precious one on one attention, let alone having their child's interest in engineering, art, or music truly inspired by a quality school or program. A school or program precisely dedicated to nurturing each student's individual passions. Instead we are mired in a monopolistic system where incremental change silently stifles student interests year after year.


Imagine instead a true variety of schools in the Central PA region where families choose to go. Rather than a forced choice based on geography, families could explore school offerings aligned to their child's burgeoning interests and strengths at a formative age. Instead of waiting until eighteen or nineteen to make a similar choice for post high school college or training, families could chose a school or program engaging to their child earlier so future opportunities become more realistic and happiness with school prevails.

Some students are so disinterested by the stifling of their passions that school becomes associated only with tedium and boredom. A study of high school students produced a frightening testament to the pervasiveness of boredom.

Students were given pagers and at random points throughout the day beeped. Once alerted students wrote in a journal what they were doing and how they felt. Like the Eskimos who have over a hundred words for snow, the researchers had to develop over a dozen different definitions for boredom. Tedium was so pervasive the researchers were able to distinguish the type of boredom where the clock seems to go backwards from doodling inspired boredom.

Losing one student to this lack of choice and boredom is bad - we lose many more.  Dropout rates are one measure, but consider only the apathy too many students have towards learning. Through the latest internet devices, students experience a specialized globally connected world where relevance is prevalent. When placed in schools and exposed to disengaging and irrelevant curriculum and instruction, many more students drop out mentally from school. This disinterest effects the growth of the individual student, our local community, and our society as a whole.

The majority of schools may still offer the scholarly foundations of producing quality readers, writers, and mathematicians - but if we could increase the offerings our schools may quickly shift from tedium to terrific from compliance to courageous from irrelevant to inspiring.

Robbins article shows customized choice can happen in the complex New York City school system. If choice can happen there, why not in Central PA? Choice spurs satisfaction. So a change in funding where parents have the choice to support their child with a program best suited to support their strengths may change pervasive school bemoaning to inspired satisfaction.